Free God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World by Stephen Prothero Page A
Authors: Stephen Prothero
to be led. The Sunni invested social and political authority in a series of caliphs, reserving all-important religious authority for the broader community. The Shia invested social, political, and religious authority in their leader, whom they called the Imam. The word imam means leader in Arabic, and among the Sunni this term refers simply to the person who leads weekly congregational worship services on Fridays. But among the Shia, the Imam (who must be descended directly from Muhammad) leads not just a congregation but the entire Shia community and, according to the Shia, is both sinless and infallible.
The Shia minority has split into various branches, most notably Twelver Shi’ism, which predominates in Iran and southern Iraq, and Ishmaili Shi’ism, which has a strong presence in India and East Africa. Twelvers are the largest Shia group. They believe there were twelve Imams, that the twelfth went into hiding (“occultation”) in 873 C.E. , and that this “hidden” Imam will return at the end of times as a messiah figure of sorts, leading an apocalyptic battle between the forces of good and evil. The smaller Ishmaili branch split off in 765 C.E. over who would succeed the sixth Imam. While many supported the sixth Imam’s son Musa, those who became the Ishmailis supported his son Ismail. Unlike the Twelvers, Ishmailis follow a line of Imams that extends to the present day.
Every religion is a “chain of memory,” and a key link in this chain for the Shia is the martyrdom of Muhammad’s grandson Husain at Karbala in Iraq in 680 C.E . 24 This time-turning event is remembered each year during the Muslim month of Muharram. On Ashura, the Muharram’s tenth day, the faithful stage dramatic performances of Husain’s death after the manner of Christian Passion Plays. In a practice reminiscent of the self-flagellation of Catholic Penitentes in the American Southwest, some men flagellate themselves to relive Husain’s suffering. Although versions of this holiday are celebrated among the Sunni, and among non-Muslims on the islands of Trinidad and Jamaica, it is of particular import to the Shia, many of whom do their daily prayers with their foreheads pressed to a piece of clay from Karbala. During the Iranian Revolution in Shia-majority Iran, rebels chanted, “Every day is Ashura and every place is Karbala.”
Islamism
Among recent developments in Islam, the scariest to Muslims and non-Muslims alike is the rise of Islamism, a radical form of politicized Islam that took the martyr tradition developed by Jews and adapted by Christians in a deadly new direction.
Islamism means different things to different people, but as the “ism” implies, it refers most widely to an ideology—an anti-Western and anti-American ideology applied to political ends by groups such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Palestinian territories, and, of course, al-Qaeda. Ideologically, the goal of Islamists is to purify Islam from the pollutions of modernity, not least the presence of U.S. military forces in Saudi Arabia and the presence of the State of Israel in the Middle East. Politically, Islamists aim to create Islamic states (or a transnational caliphate) following their idiosyncratic version of Islamic law. The tactics used to achieve these goals vary but for some Islamists they include violence and even acts of terror such as suicide bombings.
If Islam is a religion, Islamism is a political project, revolutionary in aim, utopian in spirit, and radical in all senses of the term. Like other revitalization movements, Islamism seeks to move forward by going back—in this case to the example of early Islam, which the Taliban, for example, interpret as forbidding female education and employment. Although Islamists typically trace their views to the Quran and the beginnings of Islam, Islamism, like other forms of fundamentalism, is actually a modern invention, deeply influenced by the Western ideologies it
The Shia minority has split into various branches, most notably Twelver Shi’ism, which predominates in Iran and southern Iraq, and Ishmaili Shi’ism, which has a strong presence in India and East Africa. Twelvers are the largest Shia group. They believe there were twelve Imams, that the twelfth went into hiding (“occultation”) in 873 C.E. , and that this “hidden” Imam will return at the end of times as a messiah figure of sorts, leading an apocalyptic battle between the forces of good and evil. The smaller Ishmaili branch split off in 765 C.E. over who would succeed the sixth Imam. While many supported the sixth Imam’s son Musa, those who became the Ishmailis supported his son Ismail. Unlike the Twelvers, Ishmailis follow a line of Imams that extends to the present day.
Every religion is a “chain of memory,” and a key link in this chain for the Shia is the martyrdom of Muhammad’s grandson Husain at Karbala in Iraq in 680 C.E . 24 This time-turning event is remembered each year during the Muslim month of Muharram. On Ashura, the Muharram’s tenth day, the faithful stage dramatic performances of Husain’s death after the manner of Christian Passion Plays. In a practice reminiscent of the self-flagellation of Catholic Penitentes in the American Southwest, some men flagellate themselves to relive Husain’s suffering. Although versions of this holiday are celebrated among the Sunni, and among non-Muslims on the islands of Trinidad and Jamaica, it is of particular import to the Shia, many of whom do their daily prayers with their foreheads pressed to a piece of clay from Karbala. During the Iranian Revolution in Shia-majority Iran, rebels chanted, “Every day is Ashura and every place is Karbala.”
Islamism
Among recent developments in Islam, the scariest to Muslims and non-Muslims alike is the rise of Islamism, a radical form of politicized Islam that took the martyr tradition developed by Jews and adapted by Christians in a deadly new direction.
Islamism means different things to different people, but as the “ism” implies, it refers most widely to an ideology—an anti-Western and anti-American ideology applied to political ends by groups such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Palestinian territories, and, of course, al-Qaeda. Ideologically, the goal of Islamists is to purify Islam from the pollutions of modernity, not least the presence of U.S. military forces in Saudi Arabia and the presence of the State of Israel in the Middle East. Politically, Islamists aim to create Islamic states (or a transnational caliphate) following their idiosyncratic version of Islamic law. The tactics used to achieve these goals vary but for some Islamists they include violence and even acts of terror such as suicide bombings.
If Islam is a religion, Islamism is a political project, revolutionary in aim, utopian in spirit, and radical in all senses of the term. Like other revitalization movements, Islamism seeks to move forward by going back—in this case to the example of early Islam, which the Taliban, for example, interpret as forbidding female education and employment. Although Islamists typically trace their views to the Quran and the beginnings of Islam, Islamism, like other forms of fundamentalism, is actually a modern invention, deeply influenced by the Western ideologies it